Claire-Lise RENAUD
Contact: artnet.ch – Christiane Franquin, 1268 Begnins, Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0) 22 366 42 22 / +41 (0) 76 521 50 60 Email: info@artnet.ch
Studio visits by appointment
Biography
Claire-Lise Renaud was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1948.
- 1964 enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne
- 1968 – 1983 undertook various professional activities and ventures, including exploration of different means of expression such as photography and writing
- 1979 published a slim volume entitled “Poèmes” under the imprint of F. Parisod
- 1984 settled in southern France and turned her focus to the plastic arts: works on paper, ink, lead pencil
- 1985 first exhibition. Works featured at the International Biennale of Contemporary Art, in Brignoles, southern France
- 1991 – 2002 varied approaches: watercolors, oil pastel, mixed techniques, oil painting
- Since 2003 oil painting on wood, including three-dimensional painted works
- Since 1985 personal and collective exhibitions
- Since 1997 has resettled and is working in the French Alpine department of Haute-Savoie, near Geneva
More
When she abandons the framed space of the picture, Claire-Lise Renaud’s work literally raises itself before the spectator’s eyes. Columns, doors and “energy sensors” serve as memory devices that open thresholds to new perceptions. The Column erects itself from the ground, soaring skywards. Though a sign of power, its hollow shaft that shelters golden lines, streaks and natural trophies, makes its weakness clear. When blue and cool, it is like the mirror of the fundamental waters. When red, it blazes with the forces of the earth center.
The Door is level with the ground. Its frame invites us to penetrate into an unknown world, but we stop on its threshold. The golden squares and large grooves that cut into its surface announce an even greater mystery than that of the forces of nature or of the dignity of mankind.
The Sensors, immense chalices, combine the immobile plenitude of the column and the stunning line of the door. The constant movement of a spiritual presence pulses within them, scarcely dissimulated behind the concretions of an ardent irruption or under still burning metal netting.
Reversing our way of seeing Claire-Lise Renaud’s painting invites the beholder to a physical commitment and to a conversion of the soul. No veil can hide the beauty of creation from the human eye . Only the denial of mystery is an obstacle to perception.
(Pascal Dreyer, Lyon, December 2005)
